"I think it's disingenuous or very disengaged, one of the two  either real disengaged, not paying attention, or disingenuous  to tell the people of the state of Texas that you didn't know what was happening in that savings and loan," Perry said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press.

Sanchez spokesman Mark Sanders said Perry is engaging in "outrageous political trash talk." The Sanchez campaign has said repeatedly that thrift depositors  not bank officials  were the target of a federal probe.

"There were some unscrupulous depositors who misrepresented themselves and put the money in the bank," Sanders said, noting that three federal agencies and a federal judge said Tesoro Savings and Loan followed the law.

The fact that Tesoro ultimately failed and required a federal taxpayer bailout is troubling, Perry told the AP.

"Are the businesses that he directly operated, he directly had managerial operating oversight, how did those do? Tesoro didn't do too well. The taxpayers of the country had to pay $161 million because of a failed business," Perry said.

Sanchez has said he knew nothing of the $25 million in Mexican drug cartel money that was laundered at Tesoro in 1983 and 1984. He was not accused of any wrongdoing. The thrift failed in the late 1980s for unrelated reasons.

Perry said when he served on a bank board he knew about problems at the bank even though he wasn't a major stockholder or the chief executive.

Sanchez, a multimillionaire banker and oil and gas executive, is a political rookie and faced continuous attacks over money laundering in the Democratic primary with former Attorney General Dan Morales.

Perry's campaign officials also have criticized Sanchez on the money laundering subject. But until Wednesday Perry himself had said little publicly.

"He (Perry) knows that these are the same outrageous charges leveled in the primary, which the voters saw through and subsequently gave Tony a 60 percent win. He should be ashamed of himself," Sanders said.

The governor's comments in the AP interview came hours after Sanchez's campaign began airing its first television ad directly attacking Perry. The ad criticized Perry for electric bill overcharging.

The 15-second commercial claims that because of Perry's "hand-picked" Public Utility Commission chairman, Texans have been overcharged by millions of dollars.

"The Perry administration price hike is now under legal challenge," the ad announcer says. Then the ad shows footage of Perry winking.

Perry assailed the ad as dishonest and said it shows Sanchez is starting his general election campaign with a negative tone.

The final line of Sanchez's ad states: "Rick Perry. We didn't elect him. We don't have to keep him."

Perry shot back: "I have been elected more times statewide in Texas than Tony Sanchez has probably been to the polls in the last decade."